 Hello and welcome to MIP TV, and in this edition of MIP TV, Bob Cook is joining us to talk about one of his favourite books, and this is a number of interviews in a series of reviews on books that Bob's read through the years that has informed his practice, so Bob, what book are you going to be reviewing today? I'm going to review a wonderful book by Inge Stuart, a fan joins. Inge Stuart is a well-known TA person, he's written many, many books, but he's probably his best known for this book, and it's called Transactional Analysis Today, often called TA Today, and I think it's sort of like pretty pertinent that I'm reviewing this book today because, of course, one of the founders of TA died a couple of days ago, and that was Claude Steiner. And, you know, Ian and Claude knew each other, and Ian's book really is a wonderful accessible book, with regards to all the TA concepts, the burn, and many of the other TA authors, or people that followed burn, and their concepts, he's put them all together, and him and Van joins have written this very accessible book for people interested in TA in the first time, or indeed students. This is a textbook, really, but I think it's the most accessible textbook on TA on the market. So that's a really solid introduction to the book, Bob. For those of you who are watching at home, we're going to put a slide up now so you can see the book and the title, and we're going to pop in the comments bar below, in the link bar below this video, a link to it, so if you wanted to examine it or buy it, you could have a look at it. And just to be clear, this isn't a sponsored video, so we're not sponsored by the book company or by anyone else, this is just Bob exploring his books. So, Bob, how do you use this book in teaching practice? How is it effective for students or indeed tutors? Well, you know, if you talk to, I think, most TA students or people who have gone on to be TA there because they all have this book on their bookshelf, it's usually the first year they're required to buy this book, and it's got a wonderful set of exercises after these chapters which brings the concepts alive. And it's the number one book in the 101, which is the TA introduction to the whole process, and I use it particularly to explain very sophisticated concepts easily and use the exercises they actually have at the end of each chapter, which is very good and allows a person to really live concepts as well. So, it's got a lot of experience exercises. There's a sort of book which you will probably keep with you for the whole of your training and dip in, especially for the essays. Yeah, I'd agree on that, Bob. I did the TA 101 with you, and I also taught TA as a comparative therapy. I'm not a TA trainer, but taught it as a comparative therapy. And one of the things I liked about this book was that it was just a treasure trove of information. It was easily accessible, but not only that, there were some really solid exercises, experiential exercises at the end of each chapter. And I know that we were talking earlier before we recorded this about scripts and the drama triangle. Do you want to expand on that, Bob? Yeah, I was just saying that the drama triangle, which is the three psychological positions used to analyse games, victim, persecutor, reshka, which a lot of TA therapists love, and it's really well explained in this book. And it's got some wonderful examples of the categories of games and how we out of awareness fall into these positions and what we need to do to be able to ask clinicians not only understand where we are, but actually be able to look at how we can help people change these psychological positions. And there's a wonderful chapter that I particularly like as well on rackets. I was just thinking of an exercise I've got there, which is you've been in a supermarket for an hour, buying all your goods, and you get to the actual checkout. And then you realise you've forgotten your purse, you have no money, you have no credit cards, and what do you then do? And of course, under stress, people often fall into what is called a racket or substitute feeling. And it's a really good exercise to look at what happens to people under stress and when they fall into the script position. So there's exercises like that, which bring the concepts alive. There's also case studies, which bring the concepts alive, and it covers all the major concepts within TA in a very accessible world, and it's very well written. And it's a wonderful bibliography at the back of each chapter, which shows all the relevant books in TA. So it's a goal of mine for students, but it's also wonderful people just coming to TA for the first time to get there. There are sort of hands on the concepts for the first time. And again, it's very useful to be able to reflect their skills and look how the concepts are used clinically and all round is a wonderful book. And that's why I see it as one of my favourites, because I've still got it, for example, after 30 years, I dip in again for myself. And I've certainly dipped in it when I teach people the 101 and students on my course. So I probably will have it until the day I retire and pass it on to fellow students alike. Like a holy grail past the cross, Bob. The wisdom of the ages shed. And if you get the book and it's got my autograph on it, you're even better. Well, there you go. Well, I think that watch out on eBay for the autograph copy by Bob Cook of TA today. Always a pleasure, Bob, and clearly a book that informs you, your practice and has for many years. And I know from my own experience of teaching and speaking to your students, everybody has a copy of that book. So again, just to remind everybody, we'll put a link down below so people can just click on it and have a look. And as always, Bob, a real pleasure and thank you very much.